Ja Rule, MC Hammer Top Complex's "30 Worst Falls-Offs In Rap History"

Complex names Ja Rule and MC Hammer to the top of its "30 Worst Falls-Offs In Rap History" list.

In its nearly forty years of existence, Hip Hop has seen hundreds of artists strike it big on minute, only to watch them fade into insignificance the next. Now, in a recent article, Complex chronicles thirty of the worst career failings in Hip Hop history.

It's the Real's Eric and Jeff Rosenthal joined forces with Complex to toast to the thirty biggest career fall-offs in rap history. The list covers everyone from Charles Hamilton to No Limit; however, it's Ja Rule and MC Hammer who take the top spots on the list.

"In the early 2000s, you couldn't go anywhere without hearing Ja Rule sing-rapping," they write of Ja Rule. "The rapper born Jeffery Atkins, who at one time was spitting alongside Jay-Z and DMX, shifted lanes and just-about single-handledly took Hip Hop pop, thanks to his collaborations with Ashanti, Jennifer Lopez, and Christina Milian. But it honestly wasn't the lightweight fare that took its toll on Ja, it was the emergence of his real-life enemy, 50 Cent."

Of MC Hammer, they say, "Everyone knows this story: MC Hammer danced his way to the top of the charts, made a ton of money and then pissed it all away by attempting to employ half of Oakland while on tour...He became a punchline for 'The Simpsons,' a sob story on 'Behind the Music.' He only became 'a thing' more recently once Twitter suggested that people follow him, for some indiscernible reason."

161 Comments

Taye

I was never much of a MC Hammer fan but was into his music a bit. I gave up after that "pumps and a bump" stuff came out But I do follow him on twitter because he says some interesting things and is a genuinely nice guy. He even posts useful links from time to time.

Anonymous

Lame

Everybody say 50 killed Ja's career. JA killed Ja's career. He should have kept going even in the midst of a Federal investigation of his label....unless there's more to the store than we know. For all we know, 50 could have initiated the investigation himself and went in on Ja at the same time! lol! Naw....but I'm with everybody else....I don't give Complex the time of day and certainly not this list. Aside from all the pop bull he put out, Ja had some dope records....especially the joint at the end of Last Temptation, "Destiny Outro". Still goes hard!

Anonymous

Anonymous

How did Boot Camp Click fall off???? I know Complex owns HHDX and all, but seriously? There are legit points on some artists like Charles Hamilton, Ja Rule,but most of the list are just peeps that either broke up and did their thing solo or just ventured into business ventures. Complex takes another L for this one.

rebecca

until I looked at the paycheck 4 $9178, I didnt believe that my cousin could realey receiving money in their spare time at there labtop.. there great aunt haz done this 4 only 14 months and just now repayed the morgage on there apartment and got a brand new Alfa Romeo.
read more at..WWW.youtube.qr.net/jOUs/watch?v=9xOf6Pe0ETk

rebecca

until I looked at the paycheck 4 $9178, I didnt believe that my cousin could realey receiving money in their spare time at there labtop.. there great aunt haz done this 4 only 14 months and just now repayed the morgage on there apartment and got a brand new Alfa Romeo.
read more at..WWW.youtubeGoogle.qr.net/jO6k/watch?v=ca56lqIZXqE

Mark

S

The Ice Cold Phenom

The ranking is so inaccurate and obviously required more time and research to establish such a list.
For starters, there is no stated criteria as to how artist/groups were selected. Second, there needs to be at least a minimum album standard to even make the list (Charles Hamilton). Third, if artist are still relevant today (Ice Cube..Vanilla Ice...LL) why are they on the list since hip hop was the vehicle that launched their careers in other areas? Fourth, groups like EPMD and ATCQ had great success at the height of their careers and clearly don't need to be on the list. Nothing will last forever so there needs to be some way to measure how successful an artist was in their era. Fifth, there are at least 50 other groups/artist that really should be on this list and are not included.

w h o k n o w s

If this article is accurate (which it isn't) then EVERYBODY WILL ONE DAY FALL OFF.. how did Tribe fall off? How did KRS-One fall off... Raekwon? are you fuckin' serious? If you're a legend in the game you NEVER fell off.. I fall off is when ur ass is wack or u did some dumb shit and can't recover.. legends who are still remembered and gravitated to by new artists as influences is NOT falling off.. dumbass muthafuckaz.. Complex mag is some dickheads who don't know hip-hop

bigga

fuck this article, so gettin snitched on, and being raided by the feds and focusing on ur legal woes is called falling off? If I recall he released R.U.L.E. after all that shit and still went platinum his numbers for PIL2 worldwide are platinum, and hes behind bars, how the fuk did he fall off? seems like another one on 50's nuts. Fuck complex. Cube? Big Daddy Kane? Eazy E(RIP)? Yo wtf is this non sense these niggas wanna get shot up? Fukkin clowns. The biggest fall off in rap history is 50 cent within 5 yrs nigga went from multi platinum to havin his shit constantly pushed back, he has no relevance in music no more, stay focusing on ur other shit snitch nigga, fukkin with them gay niggas.

stefaniecarter

Elizabeth. you think Jesus`s artlclee is flabbergasting... on friday I got a top of the range Citron DS after having made $8812 this last month and in excess of $10k this past month. with-out any doubt it's the nicest-job I have ever done. I started this 3 months ago and pretty much immediately was earning at least $71 per-hr. I follow
the details here..WWW.youtube.qr.net/jO4I/watch?v=bj0HlZWjcAQ

Fossie

B

Somebody tell these morons there is a difference between breaking up (Tribe, EPMD), dying (Eazy E), Moving on (Cube, LL), being a legend that the kids don't appreciate (Slick Rick, KRS, Kane) and falling off (Ja, X, Charles Hamilton etc.) Raekwon being on this list for any reason is some seriously stupid shit. A website called Complex shouldn't have simple people writing for them.

RealHIPHOPHEAD

That complex list is trash! the two guys who wrote it are obviously writing it to stir controversy....Kool Keith? son was never in the lime light like that and he been doing what he been doing....Cube? his music still dope, distributes independently AND he making Hollywood money...Rae? OB4CL2 was critically acclaimed and he still consistent...KRS? Big Daddy Kane? Tribe? EPMD? JB? That's just blasphemy....them boys didn't grow up listening to hip hop. They prolly just graduated college and got Beiber freestyles on they playlists hahahaha....btw wonder why Eminem isn't on that "LIST" He went from the 'Elvis' of this rap shit to ....... exactly (em's one of my favs, just trying to prove my point!)

Anonymous

REALHIPHOP1984

Ja Rule was never really getn play out in the streets... He was getin played in beuty salons and nail salons, I dont know any real street dudes that was ever bumpn Ja Rule like he was Jadakiss or sumthin, so I guess his real only fall off was from mainstream america

Har-magedon

Same comment posted on complex, someone get the white boy-new to rap-thinks Em is the GOAT when he can't walk in any hood aloneand no one blasts his music outta their cars or whatever-away from the typewriter. Raekwon fell off? KRS? Tribe called Quest? DMX? Do you know who the fuck these people are? oh, I get it these cats do not promote the tight jeans, emasculated black male that the Lil Waynes and Kanyes portray.

Anonymous

RedX

50 often gets credited for ending Ja Rule's career, but I sincerely doubt that. For example you cannot really mention one track where 50 was superior. Back Down was good but enough to win a battle? No.
What did have a big effect was the Feds clamping down on Murder INC. It's no coincidence that apart from Lloyd which went on to sign with Young Money, no other artist is still impacting the charts. Ja Rule's and Ashanti fell off at the same time Murder INC fell off, and it was not due to 50, but due to the Feds. 50 Cent happenned to be at the right place at the right time, and being an exceptional businessman and a talented rapper backed by Eminem and Dr. Dre, took advantage of the situation and is still milking it to date.

Anonymous

Anonymous

Anonymous

shh

YALL HATE LIL B & SBT
SWAG...
but BOYBANDS????? VS SWAG????......SMDH
BSB
NSYNC(sold 2.4 MILLION)
if PUBLIC ENEMY & NWA were out in 2012....WE WOULD NOT HAVE A "revolution in HIP HOP OR THE STREETS
THANK GOD for SAIGON!
KL
JAY ROCK
NIPSEY HUSSLE
PAPOOSE..etc....#2013...huge year ahead in music period!..TDC_C

Anonymous

Anonymous

No, you get off his dick, you silly honkey. The only racist one is you... Acting like black people are supposed to love you and shit just because youre white. If he doesnt like eminem he has that right, pussy.

Anonymous

Wack ass shit. People like these that ride pop star dick dont need to even put some of these artist in their mouths. Someone needs to slap the shit out of these dudes. Just another example of people trying to tare Hip hop down. Negative ass bullshit. Fuck complex.

Big D

Eazy E made more money off the Chronic then dr dre did lol. Also notice during the time of eazy dr dre beef if go back and look at all the old vids eazy was always in compton, dre was no where to be found

gr

gr

eminem is actually phenomenal as a rapper.
Couple points:
-technical skill
-ability to convey personal introspection
-ability to fuck around and just be entertaining/funny
-ability to connect with fans both commercially and underground
-ability to freestyle off top
-ability to battle rap
-ability to sell albums (you're going to say because he's white but my last point should negate that point).
- most important point: universal respect from his peers (who are mostly black)-- namely the "good rapper peers" lol: jay-z, nas, kanye, redman, black thought, outsidaz, pharoahe monch, mos def... etc etc etc etc etc... you will never hear a nigga that can *really* rap say that eminem is "over rated" or "can't rap."

Greaseman

Anonymous

Anonymous

Some of the artist still put out quality music or have retired. If complex decided to make a list of "30 worst fall offs in music" they would have to put the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Bob marley and their legends going by there judgement

K-ruz

yolo

Gorilla Black got arrested in a major federal credit card and hacking fraud case few months back. I know lol, couldnt picture this nigga knowing how to use a computer let alone being involved with hacking POS terminals.

K-Ruz

Killem Dafoe

Jerod> Formely known as "Malone"

This is an individual whom despite his confrontation with 50 cent and financial pitfalls, had hip-hop in the palm of his fucking hand with hit after hit after hit after hit. We treat him like the biggest piece of dog shit today.
My point is simply this. All the rappers who are young and in their prime (and its not to many of them), do you think people are going to uphold them to their reputation 10 years from now? 15 years from now? 20 years from now? He's not the only one we enjoy doing this too. I don't want to name them all because that would simply be too long for this post. If you are an avid hip-hop listener then you already know who they are.
When are we going to progress and get past the age barrier. The age of an artist is irrelevant. Jay-z and Kanye West are living proof of this (even though their lyrical and creative prowess has somewhat paled).
When is our genre going to establish a system of respect and appreciation for artist who have maintained a somewhat remarkable longevity and have contributed a lot to build the culture. You will go to the rock genre and see young listeners have that respect for guns-n-roses or aerosmith.
In our genre you'll have a young fan who listen to the evolved version of what pioneering artist built turn around and call slick rick or krs-one old irrelevant ass bums.
Now of course as I will be happening very shortly, there will be some uncultured, illiterate fag who's fathers breast milk is just to good for him to put down or who's genitalia is indistinguishable from that of a common blackhead. He's going to talk about how my post is to long and how I'm trying so hard to be smart and how I took time out of my busy schedule to right my assessment. Something homosexual in nature will probably be mentioned by him about my background and lifestyle the he knows nothing about. I can feel it coming and I disregard it as I will likely be the more superior male than he is.
This post is for the people that understand that hip-hop can be better than this. I'm only 24 (old as fuck..eh well not really) and I hate the behaviour of the young people towards people like Mr Rule (whom I'm not a fan of but can still acknowledge his accomplishments). The shit has to end here people or else our genre is going to end up like disco.
Sincerely Yours
-Former Malone

Anonymous

Assassin221

Not a great list, not terrible either but some of these don't make sense. People were paying attention to Raekwon all along even through his forgettable albums, plus Cuban Linx II was pretty recent and a huge success, so how is that a fall-off? Tribe never really fell off, they just quit which isn't the same thing. This list also really focuses on commercial success, which is an important but not the only indicator of what somebody's accomplished in hip-hop. Some of these dudes stopped selling but never really lost respect.
Oh well, interesting read anyway.

Are you serious?

Fuck Complex for this bullshit. Some of them niggas on there never fell off. These niggas talking about fall-offs and forgot about one nigga who's known as the minstrel show of rap, the stupidest muthafucka to ever be on the mic, the nigga who, with one song and one dance, single-handedly fucked up hip-hop for the even worse, and that nigga is Mr. DeAndre Way himself, SOULJA BOY. This nigga is the epitome of a fall-off. He had the number one song in the country and had everyone doing that retarded dance. Nigga had a couple more hits, made some dough, then fell off HARD when his third album flopped, only selling 13k the 1st week. Ever since then, this nigga started taking more Ls than Ws.

Anonymous

Anonymous

Anonymous

It's similar to the question GZA asked, who's ya AnR?
Corporate media and commercialism have maneged almost to completly destroy hip hop and mold it into pop culture, to suit what they think is appropriate for the easy target and the impressionable to listen too

yocuz

IDK

That list was just plain dumb and inconsistent. How did they even decide who's ranked at 30 and who's at 1? And how do they define a musician "falling-off"?? Plus, not all musicians will have a long-lasting career. It only takes a lucky few to become superstars, like Jay-Z, Nas, Eminem, Dr. Dre, etc. Whatever, it's Complex.

Anonymous

Anonymous

Only thing niggers are good at is hiphop. I mean besides being retards and thiefs. Funny thing is that the best rapper is white.
We will always be supperior to you monkeys in everything we do.
go back in the jungle and eat your bananas, you do not belong in our intelligent and civilised society

fcvs

THE REAPER

COMPLEX IS COMPLETELY OFF WITH THAT LIST...POOR RESEARCH...#FAIL
BUT ON SOME REAL SHIT, THE BIGGEST HIPHOP FALL OFF ARTIST TO DATE IS MUTHAFUCKING PRODIGY OF MOBB DEEP!!!...NIGAZ COULDNT FUKK WIT HIM WHEN HE HAD HIS RUN FROM 1995 TO 2000...AND THEN IT WAS ALL DOWNHILL FROM THERE...HERE SHOULD BE #1 ON THAT LIST!
WUBLOCK!

twoholla@yahoo.com

You know what? FUCK a Complex mag...I'm not tripping on some maistream media publication jumping on the Hip Hop bandwagon & deciding they have license to make a LIST??? GTFOH with that! Remember it was mainstream publications that made ridiclous Hip Hop lists (Vibe did the one that Buddens got heated about & ran his emo-mouth about Method Man & Rolling Stone calling Eminem the King of Hip Hop). It's a form of mind-control, influencing & dictating how you process & view Hip-Hop. Please let's be honest 50 Cent did not end Ja Rule's career. That's the general myth everyone tends to be believe but the fact of the matter is Ja Rule one-trick pony was on a downhill slide & even without 50 Cent...he would've ended up in the same place. 50 Cent has tried the same with Ross but the big difference is Ross continued to put out what's considered good music by many in regards to fantasy flossin' lifestyle music.

Anonymous

Anonymous

Big L

This is what happens when white people talk about Hip Hop: lame ass lists like this one. How the fuck Nelly fell off if he had a hit just 2 years ago??? Eazy fell off because he DIED. And if getting mad Hollywood money means "fall off", then Ice Cube mastered it.

ETK

stereotypes also say white men can't jump and dance like morons so stfu and go break a leg. Eminem didn't even run the game for over 10 years, he had a hiatus & got fat in the middle... typical white guy attitude.
yeah we gon play that game

Anonymous

Lol ur a dumb fuck Nelly did fell off. He had 1 hit song 2 years ago and you sayin he didn't fall off? nigger u a joke. When you release only 1 good song in years ur not even in the game.
And u must be black to insult white peeps like that. Just too bad its a white rapper running the game and has been for over 10 years. White people will always be better in everything. Stereotypes exist for a reason. Go back in the jungle monkey